Without help I will have to ditch amarok since it no longer works

When you remove a package the data usually isn't removed - take for example removing the office application, you wouldn't want all your office documents removed. Same goes for Amarok, it doesn't remove your MP3s or it's own history.

If you removed .kde/share/apps/amarok (and all files inside) this would rub out all the amarok config. Then start amarok again ( you don't need to reinstall it - that wont help in all likelyhood ) and report back if this fixes it.

You might want to move rather than remove that folder, especially if it contains any data you might want to keep.

Thanks Alan.

I forgot to mention I am very new to Linux. I don't know how to change the permissions to move the folder you suggest.

Can you help me with that basic problem first?

You should not need to change permissions. It's probably hidden as it starts with a dot. It's in your home directory, and in Konqueror you should have an option to show hidden files. I don't use KDE or konqueror so I am somewhat flying blind here.

I found the amarok folder but when I try to move it, a message appears telling me that I do not have the permissions to move this file...

Interesting. Did you ever run amarok under sudo? If so some of its config files may be owned by root and not you. This would cause this behaviour.

You could run "kdesudo konqueror" and use that konqueror (running with elevated privs, so be very careful with it), to move the files.

That's way too technical for me. I assume you mean paste "kdesudo konqueror" into the terminal but what is konqueror and what on earth are elevated privs?

Apologies. Yes, paste that into the terminal and you should get a konqueror (the file manager/browser) appear which has rights that are more than your normal user account and as such will allow you to remove that folder I specified.

I really like ubuntu. I just wish it wasn't so hard to do stuff.

Terminal suggested I install Konqueror by pasting "sudo apt-get install konqueror" which I did. Reams of commands etc, followed by me typing in

 kdesudo konqueror

to which terminal replied

bash: kdesudo: command not found

I understand you probably don't have time to help me with this basic stuff but I don't really have a clue what to do next.

Are your running Kubuntu (KDE version: has only one bar, at the bottom)? Or Ubuntu (GNOME version: has a menu bar at the top, and a task bar at the bottom)? This makes a difference regarding what applications are available to you.

Regardless, try typing in a terminal:

  sudo mv .kde/share/apps/amarok/ amarok.bak/

Enter your password if it asks for it. Then restart Amarok. To explain: "sudo" is the command that grants you administrative privileges on the command line. "mv" is the command to move files from the command line; it's also how you rename files. ".kde/share/apps/amarok/" is the directory you'd like to move, and "amarok.bak/" is the directory you're moving it to.

Hi Scott,

I'm using Ubuntu (gnome)

when I pasted your command, I got this

mv: target `amarok.bak/' is not a directory: No such file or directory

Oops. Sorry, that was my fault. Leave the trailing slash off of the target directory:

  sudo mv .kde/share/apps/amarok/ amarok.bak

Note there is no more slash at the end. That should do it.

You can also do this from within GNOME. To open an administrator file browser, in a terminal type:

  gksu nautilus

"gksu" is the command to give a graphical application administrator rights. "nautilus" is GNOME's file browser.

The navigate to the directory ".kde/share/apps", click on the amarok folder, and drag it to your home folder, or someplace else out of the way. Just make sure it's not still in the apps folder. Then try starting Amarok. If Amarok starts without problems, you can go ahead and delete the old amarok folder.

Sorted. Thanks a lot guys!